In 2025, the digital landscape is rife with emerging cyber threats. From attackers using generative AI to perform elaborate phishing attacks to the risks posed by remote and hybrid work environments, security breaches are a constant concern. And with new regulations emerging – including the EU’s Digital Operations Resilience Act (DORA) – safeguarding your organisation’s assets is more essential than ever.
In this context, simply having a vulnerability management process in place is not enough. You need to be able to accurately track and measure the effectiveness of your remediation efforts – and that’s where vulnerability management Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are pivotal.
In this post, we’ll explain why vulnerability management SLAs are so important and how you can set them effectively.
What is a Vulnerability Management SLA?
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract with a customer or client that sets out key performance expectations. These are the metrics the customer can use to identify whether they’ve been receiving the level of service they’ve been promised. As a result, meeting SLAs is imperative for businesses looking to grow their customer base and build a reputation for quality service.
There are a range of different SLAs commonly used in cybersecurity. However, in the context of vulnerability management, SLAs often relate to how long it takes for vulnerabilities to be remediated. The acceptable delay will depend on how severe the vulnerability is. For instance, a critical vulnerability might need to be remediated within 15 days, whereas a medium-risk vulnerability must be dealt with within 60 days.
The relative severity of a vulnerability can be measured using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). The CVSS combines a range of metrics, including how easy a vulnerability is to exploit and its potential impact, to provide a standardised measurement of severity. This can then be used to define your vulnerability remediation SLAs as follows:
| Severity | CVSS Score Range | Remediation SLA (e.g.) |
|---|---|---|
| None | 0.0 | n/a |
| Low | 0.1-3.9 | 90 days |
| Medium | 4.0-6.9 | 60 days |
| High | 7.0-8.9 | 30 days |
| Critical | 9.0-10.0 | 15 days |
You may also want to factor in the relative likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited. This involves using real-world threat intelligence to identify key patterns in attacker behaviour. On this basis, vulnerabilities can be assigned a score using an Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS). The higher the score, the more likely an exploit is to be exploited by a threat actor – and the sooner you should aim to remediate it.
Why Do You Need Vulnerability Management SLAs?
Setting SLAs for vulnerability management is a strategic move that brings discipline and accountability to your security efforts. It ensures that vulnerabilities are not just identified but are also remediated within specified timeframes. With the aid of automated vulnerability management, this proactive approach helps to minimize your exposure to cyber risks.
One size does not fit all when it comes to SLAs. Organizations must align them with their specific risk tolerance and business objectives. Prioritizing vulnerabilities based on their severity level and potential impact on the organization is essential. A risk-based approach, endorsed by CISA, enables you to allocate resources effectively and patch the most critical vulnerabilities first.
Defining your SLA Goals
Time-Bound Goals
Goals for vulnerability management should be clear, concise, and time-bound. They set expectations regarding how quickly vulnerabilities should be addressed. For instance, as noted above, you might establish an SLA that requires critical vulnerabilities to be remediated within 30 days of discovery.
Target-Based Goals
You may also choose to establish SLAs based on specific targets for service improvements. For instance, you may commit to reducing the number of open vulnerabilities, minimising the attack surface, and ensuring that software vulnerabilities are promptly patched.
Continuous Goals
Vulnerability management is an ongoing process. Therefore, your goals should reflect the need for continuous improvement. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your agreements based on the evolving threat landscape and your organization’s capacity is essential for staying effective.
How To Set an SLA for Vulnerability Management
Establishing an SLA for vulnerability management involves 4 key steps:
- Identify Critical Assets. These are the systems, applications, or data that are most essential to your business operations.
- Conduct A Risk Assessment. A risk assessment helps you to determine the severity of vulnerabilities and their potential impact on critical assets.
- Resource Allocation. Allocate resources to address vulnerabilities based on their risk level. Critical vulnerabilities should take precedence.
- Define Your SLAs. Define clear agreements that specify the maximum allowable time for remediating vulnerabilities based on their risk level.
Setting Appropriate SLA Timeframes
When setting timeframes for vulnerability remediation, consider factors such as:
- the complexity of patching
- resource availability
- the criticality of the affected asset
- the likelihood of it being exploited
While some vulnerabilities may require immediate attention, others may have longer windows for remediation. Striking the right balance between speed and thoroughness is key.
Challenges and Solutions
Achieving SLAs in vulnerability management is not without challenges. Patch reliability, compliance issues, and resource constraints can hinder the remediation process. However, with the right strategies and tools, these challenges can be overcome. Enhanced patching solutions and remediation tracking tools can significantly improve your ability to meet goals and measure progress.
Vulnerability management is a critical component of your organization’s cybersecurity program. Setting service level agreements for vulnerability management is essential to ensure timely remediation, reduce risk, and align your security efforts with your business objectives. By adopting evidence-based and risk-based SLAs, you can strengthen your organization’s security posture and protect against the ever-evolving cyber threat landscape.
Don’t wait for a security breach to take action. Embrace vulnerability management SLAs as a proactive strategy to safeguard your organization’s assets, data, and reputation.
Managing Vulnerabilities with Rootshell Security
At Rootshell Security, we understand the importance of effective vulnerability management. Our approach is rooted in data-driven strategies and risk-based SLAs. We prioritize vulnerabilities based on their severity and potential impact on your organization, ensuring that critical issues are addressed promptly.
With the Rootshell Platform, you can measure your remediation efforts against your service level agreements and track key compliance metrics, such as your monthly remediation rate. The platform offers powerful functionality, including:
- Set and measure
- Monitor compliance using the Compliance Dashboard
- See your best-performing system owners ranked on the Compliance Leader Board
- Allow the platform to mark issues as remediated on your behalf with Dynamic Remediation
Further, by measuring time to remediate (TTR), our platform gives you the insight needed to evaluate your team’s performance in real time. You’ll have the information you need to resolve any bottlenecks, optimize your processes, and reduce the time it takes to fix issues.
Setting these agreements works hand-in-hand with the range of features designed to reduce your TTR. For instance, the ability to filter and search issues by risk level enables you to review in the context of criticality, helping you prioritize critical issues.
To learn more about our tailored vulnerability management solutions, book a guided demo with one of our experts.
